Open Baffle Epiphany!

I have been enjoying my OB's based on the Eminence 12 LTA, 15 Alpha & ASD 1001 in an unfinished state all winter. Once the weather got nice, I started working on improving their looks. I am now declaring them finished. I glued pieces of wood to the MDF skeleton that a local cabinet shop puts in bins outside for people to burn in their fireplace. Thus, though I made many trips to get the pieces, the wood was free. It is actually 1\4" MDF with a decorative face.View attachment 1202251
I own their "Brothers from another Mother".............Love that look!
I can't get the LTA's out of the batter's box. I try the TB 1808's and Zenith 49CZ's and keep coming back to that big 12 inch Eminence.
Nice and smooth with good punch when necessary.
I finally finished the "cosmetics" on the Magnavox 9302 console pull.
I also run a couple of 10 inch subs to fill out the bottom. I cross the Alpha 15's @ 70hz and the subs @60hz.
Good listening!
 

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I’m looking to put phase plugs in my LTAs- where did you get yours?
Thanks!
Mine are just wooden eggs I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I screwed several long screws into one end. The magnetism of the driver holds them in place. To color them, I just grabbed each on by the screws and dipped them into my primer. One dried, I dipped them into the black paint.
 
I own their "Brothers from another Mother".............Love that look!
I can't get the LTA's out of the batter's box. I try the TB 1808's and Zenith 49CZ's and keep coming back to that big 12 inch Eminence.
Nice and smooth with good punch when necessary.
I finally finished the "cosmetics" on the Magnavox 9302 console pull.
I also run a couple of 10 inch subs to fill out the bottom. I cross the Alpha 15's @ 70hz and the subs @60hz.
Good listening!
Nice work! Are your Zenith 4CZ's the same ones that PG uses, or a slightly different model?
 
I got a $100 bill from my daughter for my birthday, and I am trying to figure out how to best spend it? It is not that I am that poor, but yes, when it comes to audio I am because nobody in the house cares about it. They would all rather I got all my "junk" out of the living room!

I thought about getting the Schiit Mani phono stage. But, would it be any better than the phono stage of my Sansui 2000X? I have thought a lot about getting that Volt+D form Allo.com. I figure it should be even better (perhaps by a lot) than my modified Sonic Impact. But would I notice the difference when I am filtering everything out except what the 15 alphas can use? My goal is to get as full and flat bass response as possible. I am not looking for more, but subscribing to what speaker designer Geddes has written about. That the more sub-woofers in the room, the more flat and better the bass gets. PG, from an audio quality point of view, would you advise me to eventually go for the diy bucket subs, or something like the other sub-woofer that you use? And, which of the inexpensive sub-woofer amps would work best, Dayton, Yung etc.? I could get one of those now. I am going to get more monoprice cables. I didn't buy enough xlr to rca ones because I had planned to use the Cary on bass, which has xlr inputs. I have been wondering what would happen if I remove to tweeter caps, and use the x10 setting on the Berhinger to try tri-amping and setting the crossover between the 12lta and the asd1001 to about 2.5KHtz. That might eliminate that last big peak in the response of the 12lta in theory. Who knows if it will sound better or worse. I am actually happy the way it is. I guess it is that princess and the pea audiophilia thing. I thought about getting another Berhinger CX2310, using the mono setting to use one Berhinger per 3 way speaker and still have two sub-woofer outputs for when I get there.

While any of the options I have mentioned would be fun, I figured I my better spend my money by consulting the experiences of all you guys first.

P.S. I got my printed versions of my three drivers out today (Eminence asd1001, 12lta & 15alpha) and was looking at the FR of each one. I saw something that I didn't know what to make of. According to the Frequency Response graphs, the 15a seems to drop off as soon and a little faster than the 12lta. Feel free to enlighten me if you can help me understand why the graphs look the why they do. I am not any expert of interpreting these.

Sincerely,

Benjamin
 
I've finally finished my open baffles with the Zenith 49CZ802 drivers. Everything was done in the living room of my small apartment with a plunge router, a cordless drill and some hand tools.
I asked about bass augmentation on these forums a few weeks ago. When I realized that adding bass augmentation would require buying a plate amp in addition to the Alpha 15As, I decided to hold off on the purchases and to augment the bass a little with folding wings.

Well the speakers sound just phenomenal. I'm sure more bass would be great, but they really sound very good now with the wings open. I have to say that the combination of the Musical Paradise 301-MKIII, homemade Duelund Coherent Audio DCA16GA tinned-copper wire interconnects and speaker cables and the Zeniths are really wonderful.

Here are some pics ...



View attachment 1173484

View attachment 1173485

View attachment 1173487
I love the burgundy color contrasting with the blond wood!
 
I got a $100 bill from my daughter for my birthday, and I am trying to figure out how to best spend it? It is not that I am that poor, but yes, when it comes to audio I am because nobody in the house cares about it. They would all rather I got all my "junk" out of the living room!

I thought about getting the Schiit Mani phono stage. But, would it be any better than the phono stage of my Sansui 2000X? I have thought a lot about getting that Volt+D form Allo.com. I figure it should be even better (perhaps by a lot) than my modified Sonic Impact. But would I notice the difference when I am filtering everything out except what the 15 alphas can use? My goal is to get as full and flat bass response as possible. I am not looking for more, but subscribing to what speaker designer Geddes has written about. That the more sub-woofers in the room, the more flat and better the bass gets. PG, from an audio quality point of view, would you advise me to eventually go for the diy bucket subs, or something like the other sub-woofer that you use? And, which of the inexpensive sub-woofer amps would work best, Dayton, Yung etc.? I could get one of those now. I am going to get more monoprice cables. I didn't buy enough xlr to rca ones because I had planned to use the Cary on bass, which has xlr inputs. I have been wondering what would happen if I remove to tweeter caps, and use the x10 setting on the Berhinger to try tri-amping and setting the crossover between the 12lta and the asd1001 to about 2.5KHtz. That might eliminate that last big peak in the response of the 12lta in theory. Who knows if it will sound better or worse. I am actually happy the way it is. I guess it is that princess and the pea audiophilia thing. I thought about getting another Berhinger CX2310, using the mono setting to use one Berhinger per 3 way speaker and still have two sub-woofer outputs for when I get there.

While any of the options I have mentioned would be fun, I figured I my better spend my money by consulting the experiences of all you guys first.

P.S. I got my printed versions of my three drivers out today (Eminence asd1001, 12lta & 15alpha) and was looking at the FR of each one. I saw something that I didn't know what to make of. According to the Frequency Response graphs, the 15a seems to drop off as soon and a little faster than the 12lta. Feel free to enlighten me if you can help me understand why the graphs look the why they do. I am not any expert of interpreting these.

Sincerely,

Benjamin

Ben,

I built this Triska sub project a few years ago. It's affordable and would give your OB's some extra bass weight. Rather than the amp they recommend I'd go with a Yung SD100. The bucket subs are true subwoofers and I use them in addition to a regular sub.

https://www.parts-express.com/project-gallery-home-subwoofer-projects-the-triska-sub
 
I put one of these together and would highly recommend it. With a Yung SD300 it's incredibly musical. I'm sold on the smaller ( faster some say ) subwoofers as all mine use 8 inch woofers. The MDF in this kit is of the highest quality and the box is so strong you could jump up and down on it.

https://www.parts-express.com/dayto...ies-ho-subwoofer-and-cabinet-bundle--300-7090

Well, I don't know if I spent my $100 in the best possible way, but I spent it. I bought a few more needed cables from monoprice and a ordered a second Berhinger 2310. I just wanted to try removing my tweeter cap and tri-amping. I could have done that experiment with just one more pair of cables. The Berhinger is finally on its way. Parts Express had them back ordered. For now I am planning to use an old Sony AV receiver as the third amp and just crack the volume. I have my eye on that APPJ mini2013 amp though, even though it is no longer on Massdrop!

The idea of building subs out of 5 gallon buckets as appealed to me ever since I read the original article. But PG of the 3 sub-woofer projects mentioned, which one would you most recommend that I do in the future, if I was just going to do one. I am thinking of the Geddes approach, hoping to achieve a more smooth response in my 16' x 18' x 8' room. I don't think I am after more bass.
 
I've never had much success when I tri-amped my OB's but maybe you will. The wiring alone is insane. The 8" sub kit from PE is a more practical approach and contributes more to my system than two bucket subs. Perhaps if I listened to electronic trance music which constantly plumbs the depths I might feel different.
 
Thank you PG. Now that I mentioned Earl Geddes, I just read in an article he wrote that he does not recommend high passing to the mains, but letting the mains take all the bass in addition to the sub. More like I was doing before with good results. I will keep experimenting and let you know how it goes.
 
Thank you PG. Now that I mentioned Earl Geddes, I just read in an article he wrote that he does not recommend high passing to the mains, but letting the mains take all the bass in addition to the sub. More like I was doing before with good results. I will keep experimenting and let you know how it goes.

I've tried it both ways and a full range speaker to my ears sounds better running full range. If you filter a full range speaker then it's no longer a full range speaker.
 
Thank you PG. Now that I mentioned Earl Geddes, I just read in an article he wrote that he does not recommend high passing to the mains, but letting the mains take all the bass in addition to the sub. More like I was doing before with good results. I will keep experimenting and let you know how it goes.
I've tried it both ways and a full range speaker to my ears sounds better running full range. If you filter a full range speaker then it's no longer a full range speaker.
Maybe a little off topic but I used to run a Hafler type of surround from a 2 channel system. Nothing special really.
The front was a pair of Bose 301's running at full range. The rear was an old pair of DAK sub/satellite speakers.
I can honestly tell when a single sub is in a corner or side of the room. I know we're not supposed to tell the difference below 80hz but there's still something that draws my ear.
Soooo...I decided to set up the so called sub-woofer behind the couch.
Anyway, having that 'sub' behind the couch seemed to fill the entire room with bass, like you would feel at a real concert, R&R or Classical.
The music was definitely coming from the front speakers but the bass seemed to surround the whole listening area. Seemed like the room was filled with a sea of bass, and no, not the fish.
And the BOOM from movies seemed to be coming up from the ground, pretty much like you'd feel it in real life.
Anyone else ever try to run a sub-woofer from behind their listening area?
I'm thinking Open Baffles from the front with maybe a bucket sub from behind...?
I'd be curious to know your results.
 
Thank you PG. Now that I mentioned Earl Geddes, I just read in an article he wrote that he does not recommend high passing to the mains, but letting the mains take all the bass in addition to the sub. More like I was doing before with good results. I will keep experimenting and let you know how it goes.

Do you have a link? Thanks
 
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